Despite being down to nine men, Inter Miami CF picked up a surprising 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday in Chester, Pa., behind a stoppage-time goal from Leo Afonso.
Afonso’s match-winner, in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, came with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez missing from the Miami lineup ahead of Copa America. Miami also saw David Ruiz and Tomas Aviles each sent off in the second half as both were shown their second yellow cards of the match.
The loss by the Union (4-5-8, 20 points) sent them to a seventh straight winless result at home (0-5-2). Philadelphia has not won a match on home soil since March 30.
Missing leading scorers Daniel Gazdag and Julian Carranza — also due to commitments with other teams — the Union opened the scoring in the third minute. Mikael Uhre got on the end of a ball from Jakob Glesnes, beat his defender, and fired it past Drake Callender for his sixth goal of the season as the Union took a 1-0 lead.
The Union sought to double their lead in the 13th minute as Quinn Sullivan went in on goal but shot it wide.
Without Messi and Suarez, Miami initially struggled to find a flow offensively, not being credited with a shot on goal — or a single shot, for that matter — until the 39th minute. But it broke through in the 47th minute as Julian Gressel ripped a right-footed effort past Oliver Semmle for his first goal of the season, tying the match at 1-1.
After seeing its ranks reduced to nine men — first as Ruiz was shown his second yellow card in the 69th minute before Aviles picked up his own second caution in the 84th minute — Miami (11-3-5, 38 pts.) found an improbable winner through Afonso, snapping a brief two-match winless run in the process.
Miami also improved to 6-1-2 away from home with the victory.
–Field Level Media
